Posted on 08/16/2012 2:44:35 PM PDT by OneVike
This August 23, 2012 marks the centennial of the birth of Gene Kelly, the great American dancer, actor, singer; a guy's guy who-along with Fred Astaire-is the only male who ever left me (momentarily) wishing I could dance.
I've always felt a kinship with Gene Kelly. It starts with Pittsburgh, the town of our birth. Kelly was born there, a hardworking Irish Catholic kid, son of Harriet Catherine and James Patrick Joseph Kelly. He attended St. Raphael Elementary and eventually sparred in fistfights and on the dance floor before opening a studio in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill section.....(excerpt)
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In October 1947, Gene Kelly joined a gaggle of Hollywood liberals who forming a group called the "Committee for the First Amendment." They launched a major public-relations trip to Washington to defend accused friends; that is, friends accused of being communists. Their friends had been summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities for their blatantly pro-Soviet activities.....(excerpt)
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When the actors watched the hearings, they were stunned that Congress' Democrats and Republicans and their lawyers had done their homework and presented massive volumes of hard evidence: Communist Party card numbers, dues payments, writings for the Daily Worker and New Masses, membership in front-groups, and on and on. The actors had been lied to-big-time. Bogart flew into a rage, screaming with choice profanities that he had been "sold out." He sure had-as had Gene Kelly and the others.
In fact, it was the second time that year that Kelly had been duped. In February 1947, Hollywood's closet communists cast Kelly, the all-American boy, to provide the introduction at the kick-off meeting of the Progressive Citizens of America (PCA), held at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles.....(excerpt)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsblaze.com ...
That movie was one of my favorites (though it did poorly at the box office): Living In A Big Way. And yes, he was known for being an athlete who danced. Or as he put it, how a truck driver or guy on your bowling team would look if he could dance.
That movie was one of my favorites (though it did poorly at the box office): Living In A Big Way. And yes, he was known for being an athlete who danced. Or as he put it, how a truck driver or guy on your bowling team would look if he could dance.
He hired Reynolds for Singin’ and told her she’d have to dance like a pro in a few short weeks. The result is what you see on screen. You bet he made her cry...he warned her up front she’d be dancing until her feet bled. He turned her into a pro.
Thanks for the ping!
And I never saw Freddy dancing and singing in the rain...lol
Exodus I enjoyed...Golda Meier, the first PRIME MINISTER of Israel was a strict socialist. I think the kibbutz reflected that but the book I read called GOLDA was quite interesting....
My wife says you are all wrong..... Ginger Rogers was the greatest dancer ever... She did everything Fred Astaire did backwards.... and in high heels.
I have THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT and THAT’S ENTERTANMENT II on CD. My young children love to watch those old MGM clips featuring Astaire, Kelly, Eleanor Powell, Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Mickey Rooney, Ginger Rogers, an so many more great stars.
You now need THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT III.
More dancing and it is GREAT! Some dancing you probably have never seen, like the Judy Garland scene from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. It is much different from the released version with Betty Hutton. Judy got sick and had to quit the movie.
I love your wife, have heard that one before and still good for a chuckle.......GG
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